The Evening Wrap: SC stays Allahabad High Court order on lockdowns in U.P. cities
| | The Evening WrapTuesday | 20 April, 2021 |  |
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SC stays Allahabad High Court order on lockdowns in U.P. cities |
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim stay on the Allahabad High Court order directing the Uttar Pradesh government to impose strict restrictions till April 26 in five cities amid a surge in Covid-19 cases. "There shall be an interim stay on the order of the high court," a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said while hearing the state government's plea against the order passed on Monday. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, said the state has taken several steps to contain the spread of coronavirus but to "lockdown five cities by a judicial order may not be the right approach". He said the state government has issued several directions and taken adequate precautions on the issue. Mehta said the high court order would create immense administrative difficulties. The apex court, while granting interim stay on the high court order, appointed senior advocate P S Narasimha as amicus curiae to assist in the matter. The bench directed that the matter be listed after two weeks. Earlier in the day, the apex court agreed to hear the plea of the Uttar Pradesh government against the high court order after the state requested urgent listing of the matter. The high court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to impose strict restrictions, including closing of malls, shopping complexes and restaurants till April 26 in five cities -- Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Nagar and Gorakhpur -- but stopped short of calling it a "complete lockdown". As Delhi hospitals run out of oxygen, HC tells company not to divert it from capitalMultiple government hospitals in the city said that their oxygen stock will last only for "seven to twelve hours" and "people will die" if they do not get oxygen. Delhi has been witnessing a huge jump in cases, with a positivity rate of almost 30%. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also reiterated there was a serious oxygen crisis and again sought help from the central government. "Serious oxygen crisis persists in Delhi. I again urge centre to urgently provide oxygen to Delhi. Some hospitals are left with just a few hours of oxygen," he said in a tweet. We need oxygen very badly. Have enough to last only seven to eight hours,"Dr. D.S. Rana, chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, a private hospital, told The Hindu. "If we don't get oxygen on time then many will die. 120 patients in ICU are heavily dependent on oxygen. 80% of the other patients are also dependent on oxygen. We have informed about it to both central and state governments," Dr. Rana said. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is one of the largest private hospitals in the city. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court issued notice to INOX, which produces oxygen, as to why contempt action should not be initiated against it for not complying with court orders to supply oxygen and directed the presence of the company's Managing Director on the next date of hearing on April 22, PTI reported. The court also sought the presence of the Uttar Pradesh government on the next date. The direction came after senior advocate Rahul Mehra told the bench that INOX did not supply oxygen to Delhi as directed by the court, claiming that doing so would lead to a law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh from where the supply was to come. The court in its order also directed the Centre to issue appropriate orders and also meet the representatives of the steel and petrochemical industries to divert some portion of their oxygen for medical needs for a period to tide over the prevailing pandemic. Holding that economic interests cannot override human lives and in view of various hospitals in the national capital running low on oxygen, it said the Centre should immediately implement the ban on industrial use of oxygen instead of waiting till April 22. The bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli also noted that oxygen supply of various hospitals will run out in 4-8 hours and in such a situation there was no justification in implementing the ban from April 22 as the need was now. In address to nation, PM bats for 'micro-containment zones' over lockdownsIn a special address to the nation today evening, Prime Minster Narendra Modi urged the youth to take the lead in encouraging Covid-19-appropriate behaviour, and said that if everyone were to strictly follow COVID protocols, then there would be no need for a lockdown, which could disrupt economic activity. He also said that where needed, 'mirco-containment zones' could be used as a strategy to curb the spread of infections rather than a blunt instrument such as a lockdown. Pointing out that India is today much better equipped to tackle the second wave of the pandemic compared to the same time last year when the nation didn't have many elements of the COVID-specific infrastructure such as test kits and PPEs, he said the government is fully cognizant of the current challenges and is working hard to ramp up production of oxygen cylinders, medicines, and vaccines to meet the surge in demand following a spike in infections. Stating that he shared the pain of ordinary citizens who have been hit hard by the pandemic and have lost loved ones, he saluted the contributions of thousands of frontline workers, or 'COVID warriors', who have worked tirelessly to save lives while risking their own. ICSE Class 10 exams cancelled amid Covid-19 surgeThe Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Monday told schools that the ICSE Class 10 examinations had been cancelled due to the rising Covid-19 cases. In a letter to all heads of schools that were presenting candidates for the exams, CISCE chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said: "Given the present worsening situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the CISCE has decided to cancel the ICSE (Class 10) 2021 examination…The safety and well-being of our students and teaching faculty is our topmost priority and of paramount interest." He said the April 16 circular, which made the exams optional, had been withdrawn. In addition all CISCE-affiliated schools were advised to begin the admission process for Class 11, if they had not already done so, he said. Schools should prepare a schedule for starting online classes for Class 11 students. The CISCE was committed to a "fair and an unbiased criterion" on which basis the Class 10 results would be declared. The criterion and the date of result declaration would be announced later, he said. Both election commissioners test positiveChief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioner (EC) Rajiv Kumar have tested positive for Covid-19 and have been working from home, according to Election Commission of India (ECI) officials. Chandra, who took over as CEC from Sunil Arora on April 13, had assumed charge of the new role from home as he had been Covid-19 positive then, an official said. An ECI spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that Chandra and Kumar had tested positive for the pandemic and were working from home. The development comes at a time when the Commission is short of one EC, following the elevation of Chandra from EC to CEC, and while the West Bengal Assembly elections are ongoing. Covid Watch: Numbers and DevelopmentsThe number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,55,26,274 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,81,904. In Brief:Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he had tested positive for COVID-19. "After experiencing mild symptoms, I've just tested positive for COVID. All those who've been in contact with me recently, please follow all safety protocols and stay safe," Gandhi tweeted. With an uncontrollable surge of coronavirus cases in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cancelled his travel to Europe next month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced. The decision was taken after discussions with the European Union leadership and the Portuguese government, that was going to host the summit in Porto, and had invited leaders of all 27 countries that comprise the EU to attend the meeting with Modi. The cancellation comes a day after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his visit to India in view of the pandemic. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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